United Church buildings produce as much carbon dioxide as 30,000 cars. Why are so few congregations cleaning up their act?

Feature

January 2017

By Mike Milne

Feature

January 2017

By May Tartoussy

For Syrian refugees, adapting to Canadian culture is hard. We asked a Syrian-born Arabic-speaking journalist to interview some of the United Church-sponsored newcomers about learning to live in a new land

by Kristy Woudstra

Editorials

by Jocelyn Bell

Video

by Observer Staff

Anne Bokma left the Dutch Reformed Church as a young adult and eventually became a member of the United Church and then the Unitarian Universalists. Having long explored the "spiritual but not religious" demographic as a writer, she decided to immerse herself in practices — like hiring a soul coach, secular choir-singing and forest bathing — for 12 months to find both enlightenment and entertainment.

A preacher’s kid pretended to be a devout daughter, but secretly she felt lost in a wilderness of doubt.

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Founded in 1829, The United Church Observer is the oldest continuously published magazine in North America and the second oldest in the English speaking world. It has won international acclaim for journalistic excellence and garnered more awards for writing than any other Canadian religious publication. Read more...